While shops may no longer accept round £1 coins after this date, you will still be able to deposit them in most banks and Post Offices.

Sara Benwell, Consumer Editor at Good Housekeeping, says, ‘If you're worried about loads of loose change suddenly becoming worthless, don't panic. Even though shops will stop accepting old £1 coins in October, you'll still be able to deposit them in your bank account.

‘Most banks and building societies have even said they'll allow their own customers to exchange 'round pounds' after the cut-off point, and the Post Office will let anyone do it in branch.’

What’s different about the new £1 coin?

As well as having a 12-sided design, the new £1 coin is thinner and lighter than the current pound, and slightly wider in diameter.

It features the national emblems of the UK: a rose, leek, thistle and shamrock, and has an image that changes from a ‘£’ to a ‘1’ depending on which angle you look at it.

Will trolleys, parking meters and vending machines be affected?

Parking meters, vending machines and trolleys will be adapted to accept the new 12-sided coin as soon as possible.

Most supermarkets, including Asda, Sainsbury’s, Aldi and Lidl, have confirmed that their trolleys will already take the new coin. Tesco, however, has missed the deadline and will unlock all of its trolleys while work is carried out to adapt them.

A spokesperson for Tesco said, ‘We’re replacing the locks on our trolleys to accept old and new pound coins as well as existing trolley tokens. As an interim measure we will unlock trolleys while this process is completed and we will continue to have colleagues on hand to attend trolleys in our stores, so our customers aren’t affected by the changes.’

As there may be a period of time where the 12-sided coins will not be accepted by some ticket machines or trolleys, Sara advises, 'For the time being, the logical thing to do is keep a stash of both kinds in your car or wallet so you'll have the change you need, whatever the situation. In particular, if you know you'll be using pay as you go parking or are likely to need a supermarket trolley, it's sensible to have both options.’